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Birthday: January 7
Gender: Female
Location:
BRADENTON, Florida
United States
School:
University of Miami Ckoral Gables, FL

The Hartford Auto Insurance

 

I have a sad story to tell. First let me say that I had Nationwide Insurance for about twenty years and up until about 4 years ago I had no complaints. Then my premiums kept rising substancially each year so I felt it was time to look for a new agency. My sister had suggested The Hartford through AARP for sometime so I checked on them and was very pleased to find out I could save $400.00 with better coverage and a lower deductable. I signed up. I had all the discounts including the Safe Driver discount. Now for the sad part. I was driving on the East Coast of Florida near Palm Beach where there is a lot of road construction going on I-95. A piece of "rebar" a spiral metal rod used in concrete construction of those barriers along the road flew through my tire and wheel and lodged in my wheel well. The entire wheel had to be replace at the cost of $800.00+. Of course I turned it into my insurance company. I had a $250.00 deductablel, but the adjuster denied about $40.00 due to the fact that he felt the repair shop charged for items that existed. OK, that was no big deal, so they ended up paying out about $550.00. The big "SHOCK" came when I received my new bill for this year. They raised my rates by $600.00 a year! I called Customer Service and was told that because there was no other driver involved, it was my fault and that there was nothing to be done; it was POLICY. I called several more times and got the same answer. I questioned them about the "First Accident Forgiveness claim that is used in their commercials and was informed that you had to be with The Hartford for three years without incident to be eligable. I really hate change, but I will be looking for a new insurance company. The bottom line is this: Sometimes a better rate isn’t really better If you actually have to use your insurance. May I suggest that you find out POLICY before you change your insurance company for a better rate.

Kit2594 says:

I live in Massachusetts & had a similar situation a few years back. My agent said that any amount of the repair that was over my deductible would be paid by the state of Massachusetts by state law. It ended up that the repair was less then the amount of my deductible, so it never did apply.

You may want to either contact the state of Florida or a new agent. I have Commercial Insurance, but my insurance agent said that it had nothing to do with the insurance. All I needed to know was the location where my car was damaged by the state construction (which I did since it was also a state highway) to get the state to pay.

Hope you can get some help with this as you should not have to pay for damage done due to highway construction. Also, like your situation, there was no other car involved.

Good luck,
Kit
Posted: July 10, 2008 2:08PM EDT
Lindy11 says:

How do you really know about insurance companies, until you file a claim?

I wonder, if you could have filed a claim with Florida and the constuction site. I have heard of people in Georgia getting money back, when a potwhole in the road caused damage to their vehicle???? It was their rebarb
Posted: June 25, 2008 5:07PM EDT
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Added: Jun 25, 2008
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